2017 – the year of technological innovations like AI

Another year has past and now we are ready for new beginnings. New technological advances are on the way and we should be impressed.  So far we’ve seen so many improvements made by technology, and particularly by artificial intelligence.

Before we look at the future predictions, we should have a look back at the improvements that technological innovations like artificial intelligence and machine learning have made possible in 2017.

1. Financial services: the new focus on the customer experience influenced the financial institutions to implement AI technologies. According to some studies, people are more willing to offer their information if the services are personalized, the robots can help with that.
2. Agriculture: even if people believe that AI is taking over their jobs, it is actually creating others. In agriculture, for instance, it will cover the loss of human workforce because each year the industry loses over 6% of its workforce. According to the World Urbanization Prospects report, by 2050, more than 60% of the global population will be in urban areas and agriculture areas will have fewer workers.
3. Automotive: thanks to the development of computers, AI and GPS systems, we now see self-driven cars on the road. Automotive companies are very close to creating entirely autonomous vehicles. Don’t be surprised to see them in 2018. There are also many other companies that implemented drive assistance to their autos to help a driver without entirely controlling the car.
4. Healthcare: online consultations and personalized treatments are now available using AI in the health industry.  Innovators have created an application that offers people virtual consultations by providing the symptoms of the illness and the medical history. The tool analyzes all the data and provides a personalized treatment for the patient while drastically decreasing the time of waiting in the hospital.
5. Socialization: 2017 was the year of socializing with AI. As we interact with this technology, the AI is providing a competitive advantage by enhancing customer interactions. For this reason, 85% of the companies included in an Accenture study reported that they would increase the budget for AI technology in the next three years.
6. Lead generation: sales are essential for every company, and when a sales department misses an opportunity, it usually is not a good thing. AI Technology allows businesses to reach out to prospects and follow up on those showing interest. There will be no missed sales because of time zone differences, or unavailable resources. AI is not taking over jobs; it is only complementing them to create more productivity.

Humans have created an alliance with artificial intelligence and machine learning to fight the fake news phenomenon. By using deep learning, artificial neural networks or natural language processing, the advanced AI systems can analyze text, images, videos and online posts that work faster than any human to detect false information.

2017 we were presented with the first robot citizen, Sophia, as the robot was called, impressed everyone because, it is capable of learning creativity, compassion, and empathy. Sophia also talked about the ethics in robotics and answered many questions on her own.

What do you believe will be the AI milestones in 2018? You can check my thoughts in this infographic, and also share yours in the comments section below.